Nintendo Wii research

Brand research:

The logo Wii is spelt with two lower case i's to represent two people together and to represent the Wii remote and nunchuck. The name Wii also sounds like "we" which was intended, Nintendo wants people to play this console together. It was originally going to be named "Revolution" but it was to long and to hard to pronounce in some cultures.




Marketing Strategy:

Nintendo did a series of adverts in North America (and online) that started on November 15 2006 and had a budget of 200million US dollars throughout the year. These productions were Nintendo's first broad-based advertising strategy, which show a variety of people playing the Wii, such as urban dwellers, country ranchers, grandparents and parents with their children.




Target Audience:

The Wii's target audience is pretty much everybody, anyone old enough to use a Wii remote and understand whats going on is targeted by the Wii. Even pensioners as old as 103 years old have been reported playing the Wii in the UK.



Where they advertise:

Nintendo have a bunch of adverts on the T.V and advertisements across the internet, mainly youtube.
Alot of adverts for the Wii dont actually focus so much on the Wii itself, they mostly advertise the games and extras you can get with the Wii and just show the logo at the end. 



Additional information:

There we quite a few lawsuits against Nintendo when the Wii was first released.

Selling the sixties

In the 1960's if you were a white man (there was still a tension between black and white people, it wasn't until around the 1980's that black America really got any recognition, and got any of the "material" freedom America was giving out) it was a very good time for you, there was a lot of advances in advertisements and technologies, it was in this time that America became know as the land of plenty, they were (and still are) about excess, they lived in the now and didn't think about the future, a lot of people think the affluence of the sixties was the Americans way of escaping the horrors and tragedies of the great depression and the world wars.

What i thought of the Americans in the sixties when i saw the documentary was "sheep", they all conformed to the same thing, the next big thing. There was a part in the documentary where a family was sat around a dinner table and the wife was asking her husband for a brand new television, at first he was against it wishing to save some money, but as soon as the kids chimed in he caved, but the thing he said next was what got my interest the most, he said "very well let everyone else follow the Jones family" which just adds to the sheep categorization, everyone wanted the same thing, if it was on television, in a magazine or in the paper, they wanted it.

There was a catalog which everyone deferred to called the sears catalog, clothes, worktops, kitchen appliances anything you could think of would probably be in there. Also to reinforce the excess comment i made, there was a whole three pages dedicated to different types of shovels that you could purchase....who needs that many types of shovels. The fact that they had three pages of shovels could be linked to the freedom of choice, giving the illusion of actual freedom, another way to escape from the horrors of the past, and to keep that going they would bring newer versions of the same thing, take for instance a car, most car advertisements were saying, the car your driving is old, you need a new one, and no one wanted to be left behind.

They were very proud of their advertisements in the sixties, so much so that they had huge glass buildings (sky scrapers) built where all the business men would work, which led me to think they were extremely proud of their work, everyone could see through the windows, see what they were working on, it was as if they were saying "look were doing this and were good at it".

Another thing that was huge in the sixties was John F Kennedy (JFK) he was a huge role model to the Americans, he spoke in a clear understandable way and used words very well, he was very persuasive, one the main things JFK said was "the most powerful words you can use to persuade people is new and free, you can rarely use free but you can almost always use new. People from all different kinds of businesses were trying to get him to wear they're products because anything he wore would become instantly wanted, people wanted to be JFK, he became a living brand.

If you look at advertising today and compare it to the 1960's you will see a few similarities but a lot of differences, take for instance the mobile phone, just like the shovels in the sears catalog there is a huge choice of different looking models that do the exact same thing, there maybe some slight differences, certain little perks the others wont have but they will inevitably be used for the same thing.

Probably the biggest difference today compared to the 1960's is the way advertisement is presented, in the 1960's they had a very set rule about how a family works, the woman would stay at home and look after the kids, washing,cleaning etc, and the man would go out and earn the money, now this had a very interesting affect on how the way adverts were presented, adverts selling home appliances would be directed at women, they would be steered more towards making the woman's life easier or more comfortable, however adverts aimed towards men would degrade women, make them appear as sex objects or trophy's, which you would rarely hear of let alone see in today's world.  

The most important thing that has changed about advertisement over the years is how important brands are. Over the years brands have become the most valuble assest a company can have, a good brand that gets recognized by consumers, depending on its reputation is more likley to sell, people become loyal to brands that dont dissapoint them and will start to buy their product more than anyone else's, its almost like you become friends with them and by buying from them your helping them out.

Lets take Coca-Cola  for example the way they have used their brand has made them a powerhouse in the soft drink industry, they find new and innotive ways to present their brand and they do it well.  

Semiotics

Semiotics is the study of signs. A sign is something that stands for something other than itself.

Different Semiotics can have different meanings in certain contexts.

Contextual Studies

Comic/Graphic Novel Research:


X-Men:
The X-Men are a superhero team, created by writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby in September 1963.


Stan Lee devised the series title after Marvel publisher Martin Goodman turned down the initial name "The Mutants" stating that the readers wouldn't know what a mutant was.
Stan Lee was born in Manhattan, the son of Romanian-born Jewish immigrants. He grew up having to work to make ends meet for his struggling family. This gave Stan a deep understanding of life and the problems real, everyday people can have. While he was a fan of the idealistic comics of his youth, Stan realised that beneath the mask, superheroes were indeed everyday people. Eventually, after many years of working as a delivery boy, and other odd jobs around New York, Stan began to work as an assistant at Timely Comics. His love of the printed word and of pulp storytelling grew as the comic company grew, ultimately becoming Marvel Comics.


Jack Kirby (August 28, 1917 – February 6, 1994), born Jacob Kurtzberg, was an American comic book artist, writer and editor. Growing up poor in New York City, Kurtzberg entered the nascent comics industry in the 1930s. He drew various comic strips under different pen names, ultimately settling on Jack Kirby. In 1941, Kirby and writer Joe Simon created the highly successful superhero character captain America for Timely Comics, predecessor of Marvel Comics.
After serving in World War 2, Kirby returned to comics and worked in a variety of genres. He contributed to a number of publishers, including Archie Comics and DC Comics, but ultimately found himself at Timely's 1950s iteration, Atlas Comics, later to be known as Marvel Comics. In the 1960s, Kirby co-created many of Marvel Comics' major characters, including the Fantastic Four, the X-Men, and the Hulk, along with writer-editor Stan Lee. Though after a while Jack Kirby felt treated unfairly, and left the company in 1970 for rival DC Comics.


Mythology in games:
Final Fantasy VII:


In Final Fantasy VII there are a number of different mythology's from countless different cultures, here is a list of some and why i think they were put in the game:


CHARACTERS: 
Sephiroth: Sephiroth is a Hebrew word, which derives from the Cabbala, a branch of religious lore that has its roots in Jewish mysticism. It states that at the creation, God sent a pulse of energy out into the void; this branched into ten aspects or spheres, numbered 1-10; The Sephiroth. To return to God, a Cabbalist must conquer each of the Sephiroth. His final form is often thought to be a misspelling of the word "Seraph," but actually "Safer" or "Sepher" is another Hebrew word meaning "book of numbers." This probably has some relevance to the stress placed on the number-tattooed clones.


 Cait Sith: Gaelic word, meaning literally "fairy cat". In Irish fairy
stories, Cait Sith is in many King of Cats tales, which is why he wears a crown in the game.          
Tifa Lockheart: This is related to Sephiroth. The Tiferet is part of the ten Sephirot and means "balance and love". Also Cabbalism states that it can also mean self-sacrifice. In the tarot, the Tiferet is represented with a heart . Then there is also the double meaning of "locked heart" or something to that effect, which makes sense when you consider her relationship with Cloud.         

 Lucrecia Crescent: Is a scientist at Shinra who gave birth to Sephiroth for scientific purposes, Hojo the lead scientist at Shinra injected the Jenova cells into Lucrecia and the foetus of the unborn Sephiroth. Also her name may refer to a famous painting and poem "The Rape of Lucrecia." Symbolic of the scientific "rape" Hojo carried out upon her body perhaps.        

Vincent Valentine: Possibly a connection to St. Valentine, the patron of protective lovers, you see Vincent was Lucrecia's bodyguard and didn't approve of what Hojo was doing to her, but when he tried to confront Hojo he was nearly killed and he couldn't save Lucrecia, when you find Vincent in the game he explains that he had locked himself in his coffin for 40 years(Vincent was injected with some chemicals, its not entirely clear what, by Lucrecia to save him from dying, his character most resembles that of a vampire hence the coffin) because of a "sin" he committed, this could be his failure to save Lucrecia whom he loved.      

Shinra: Shinra is a huge electric power company, that also acts as the planets government, they use machines called mako reactors to harness the planets "life energy" to create electricity, they play as the main enemy throughout the game as you re trying to destroy the mako reactors so the planet will be saved. In Egyptian mythology there is a monster described as a huge, dark vampire with the name Shinra which is rather fitting considering they drain the planets "life energy" with the mako reactors.    

Barrett Wallace: "Barrett is and Olde English word for a flat cap, headgear associated with the working classes, coal miners in particular, and in the game Barrett's home town is North corel, a coal mining town.   

Cloud Strife: Strife means struggle or conflict, which he is a part of, a lot. Also his limit break (a powerful move you can use in the game) "Cross-Slash" forms a Kanji meaning "Bad Luck."    

Aerith Gainsborough: According to the designers of this character her name was supposed to be a near anagram for earth, which makes sense considering her ability to use spells attributed to nature and her love of flowers. Also the name they originally thought of giving her was "Aeris" which (by looking on google) has the meaning of "Air," "Cloud," "Sky," or "Ether."   

MONSTERS & SUMMONS:  

Shiva: Hindu God of destruction. Actually a male. In the Final Fantasy series Shiva more closely resembles Kali, Hindu Goddess of time and change. However, i looked on google and i saw a yahoo question that said he had been reading some books on Celtic mythology and he claims that there may have been a Celtic goddess called Shiva that was made from ice, which would make more sense considering in the game that Shiva is made from ice and she uses ice based attacks and her attire is very Celtic ( chunky jewellery, skimpy clothes, etc) though i don't know if its true because many of the people who answered the question said they'd never heard of a Celtic goddess called Shiva.  

Ifrit: A djinn or fire spirit of Indian origin.  

Hades: Another name for Hell or the Underworld, also the name of the ruler of hell in Greek mythology, he is the brother to Zeus the ruler of the sky and Poseidon the ruler of the oceans.    

Odin: King of the Norse Gods and ruler of Asgard.  

Leviathan: A huge sea dwelling creature, in the game he is referred to as the lord of all waters, which could also be linked to Chinese mythology, they have a Deity/Dragon called Dilong which is believed to be the controller of rivers and seas (controller of all waters).  

Titan: In Greek mythology the "Titans" were the parents of the Olympian Gods, and proud rulers of the Golden Age, now I'm not entirely sure why (Wikipedia and other sites seemed to be lacking in this area ¬¬) but the Olympians, Zeus in particular led his siblings into war against the titans, possibly in an attempt to overthrow them, in which they succeeded, though i don't understand why they wanted to destroy their parents.  

Representing other cultures in comics and video games.

China.

Qin Dynasty: Information from Wikipedia.

The Qin Dynasty was the first imperial dynasty of china. During its reign over china the Qin Dynasty achieved increased trade, improved agriculture and military security. This was mainly due to the abolition of landowning lords whom the peasants had pledged alligence, this gave the central goverment access to a much larger work force which allowed the to construct the "Great Wall of China" stopping the constant invasions by the mongolians. Currencys, weights and measures were standardized and a better system of writing was established.
The Qin's military was also revolutionary in that it used the most recently developed weaponry, transportation, and tactics.
Despite its military strength, the Qin Dynasty did not last long. When the first emperor died in 210 BC, his son was placed on the throne by two of the previous emperor's advisers, to be used as a puupet so they could control the entire dynasty through him. The advisors squabbled among themselves, however, which resulted in both their deaths and that of the second Qin emperor. Popular revolt broke out a few years later, and the weakened empire soon fell to a Chu lieutenant, who went on to found the Han Dynasty. Despite its rapid end, the Qin Dynasty influenced future Chinese empires.

Clothing: Information from Wikipedia.

Traditional Chinese clothing is broadly referred to as Hanfu with many variations such as traditional Chinese academic dress. Depending on one's status in society, each social class had a different sense of fashion. Most Chinese men wore Chinese black cotton shoes, but wealthy higher class people would wear tough black leather shoes for formal occasions. Very rich and wealthy men would wear very bright, beautiful silk shoes sometimes having leather on the inside. Women would wear bright, silk coated Lotus shoes, with wealthy women practicing bound feet as a status symbol - a practice abolished in the early 20th century. Male shoes were mostly less elaborate than women's.

 

This jacket is made of silk. Chinese legend suggests silk production was discovered by Lady Hsi-Ling-Shih, the wife of the mythical Yellow Emperor.

                                            
 Chinese Mythologies: Information from Wikipedia.


The Chinese dragon is one of the most important mythical creatures in Chinese mythology, considered to be the most powerful and divine creature as well as controller of all waters. They were believed to be able to create clouds with their breath. The dragon symbolized great power and was very supportive of heroes and gods.
One of the most famous dragons in Chinese mythology is Yinglong, said to be the god of rain. Many people in different places pray to Yinglong in order to receive rain. Chinese people sometimes use the term "Descendants of the Dragon" as a sign of their ethnic identity

There has been extensive interaction between Chinese mythology and Confucainism, Taoism, and Buddhism. Elements of pre-Han Dynasty mythology such as those in Shan Hai Jing were adapted into these belief systems as they developed (in the case of Taoism), or were assimilated into Chinese culture (in the case of Buddhism). Elements from the teachings and beliefs of these systems became incorporated into Chinese mythology. For example, the Taoist belief of a spiritual paradise became incorporated into mythology as the place where immortals and deities dwelt.

Important deities and mythological figures

Wen Chang, Chinese God of literature, carved in ivory, c. 1550–1644, Ming Dynasty.

• Bi Fang
• Deities with Buddhist appellations
  • Dizang: ruler of the ten hells
  • Four Heavenly Kings: four Buddhist guardian gods
  • Gautama Buddha (釋迦牟尼)
  • Guan Yin (also Kuan Yin): bodhisattva associated with compassion
  • Laughing Buddha
• Cangjie: had four eyes
• Chang'e: goddess of the Moon
• Chi You: tyrant who fought against the then-future Yellow Emperor
• Da Yu (Yu the Great): founder of the Xia Dynasty and famed for his introduction of flood control and for his upright moral character
• Daoji: folk hero known for wild and eccentric behavior; maintained a compassionate nature
• Eight Immortals
  • Cao Guojiu
  • Han Xiangzi
  • Han Zhongli
  • He Xiangu
  • Lan Caihe
  • Lu Dongbin
  • Tie Guaili
  • Zhang Guolao
• Erlang Shen: possessed a third eye in the middle of his forehead that saw the truth
• Four Emperors (四御): heavenly kings of Taoist religion
• Feng Meng: apprentice to Hou Yi, and his eventual murderer
  • Yu Huang (Jade Emperor)
  • Beiji Dadi
  • Tianhuang Dadi
  • Empress of Earth
• Gao Yao
• Gong Gong: water god/sea monster resembling a serpent or dragon
• Guan Yu: god of brotherhoods, martial power, and war
• Han Ba (旱魃)
• Hou Yi: archery deity; married to Chang'e, goddess of the Moon
• Hung Shing
• Jum sum: god of sleep and dreams
• Kua Fu: a giant who wanted to capture the sun
• Kui Xing: god of examinations and an associate of the god of literature, Wen Chang
• Lei Gong: god of thunder
• Lung Mo: Chinese woman deified after raising five infant dragons
• Matsu: goddess of the sea
• Meng Po: responsible for reincarnated souls forgetting previous lives
• Nezha: Taoist protection deity
• Sun Wukong (also the Monkey King)
• Tam Kung: sea deity with the ability to forecast weather
• The Cowherd and Weaver Girl
• Three August Ones and Five Emperors: a collection of legendary rulers
• Three Pure Ones: the Taoist trinity
  • Daode Tianzun
  • Lingbao Tianzun
  • Yuanshi Tianzun
• Town god
• Tu Di Gong: god of wealth and merit
• Tu Er Shen: managed the love and sex between homosexual men
• Wenchang Wang: god of culture and literature
• Wong Tai Sin: possessed healing power
• Wu Gang: endlessly cut down a self-healing bay laurel on the moon
• Xi Wangmu: Queen Mother of the West
• Xiang River goddesses (Xiangfei)
  • Ehuang (娥皇)
  • Nüying (女英).
• Xihe, goddess of the sun
• Xingtian: headless giant decapitated by the Yellow Emperor as punishment for challenging him; his face is on his torso as he has no head
• Zao Jun: kitchen god
• Zhao Gongming (also Cai Shen): god of prosperity
• Zhong Kui: vanquisher of ghosts and evil beings
• Zhu Rong: god of fire

Spirit of the well, from Myths and Legends of China, 1922 by E. T. C. Werner

Zoomorphic guardian spirits of Day and Night, Han Dynasty (202 BC – 220 AD) Chinese paintings on ceramic tile

Mythical creatures

• Bashe: a snake reputed to swallow elephants
• Beasts
  • Bai Ze: legendary creature said to have been encountered by the Yellow Emperor and to have given him a compendium listing all the demons in the world
  • Qilin: chimeric animal with several variations. The first giraffe sent as a gift to a Chinese emperor was believed to be the Qilin; an early Chinese painting depicts this giraffe replete with the fish scales of the Qilin. Qilin was believed to show perfect good will, gentleness, and benevolence to all righteous creatures.
  • Xiezhi (also Xie Cai): creature of justice said to be able to distinguish lies from truths; it had a long, straight horn used to gore liars
  • Xiniu (犀牛): a rhinoceros; became mythologized when rhinoceroses became extinct in China. Depictions later changed to a more bovine appearance, with a short, curved horn on its head used to communicate with the sky
• Birds
  • Fenghuang: Chinese phoenix
  • Jian (鶼; jian¹): mythical bird supposed to have only one eye and one wing; 鶼鶼: a pair of such birds dependent on each other, inseparable, hence representing husband and wife
  • Jiguang (吉光; jíguāng)
  • Jingwei: mythical bird which tried to fill up the ocean with twigs and pebbles
  • Jiufeng: nine-headed bird used to scare children
  • Peng: giant mythical bird
  • Qing Niao (青鳥; qīngniâo): mythical bird and messenger of Xi Wangmu
  • Sanzuniao: three-legged crow that represented the sun birds shot down by Houyi
  • Shang-Yang: a rainbird
  • Su Shuang (鷫鷞; su⁴shuang³): mythical bird like a crane; also described as a water bird
  • Zhen: poisonous bird
  • Zhu: bad omen
• Chinese Monkey: warded off evil spirits; highly respected and loved
• Dragons
  • Chi: hornless dragon or mountain demon
  • Dilong: the earth dragon
  • Dragon King: king of the dragons
  • Fucanglong: the treasure dragon
  • Jiaolong: dragon of floods and the sea
  • Shenlong: the rain dragon
  • Tianlong: the celestial dragon
  • Yinglong: powerful servant of Huangdi
  • Zhulong: the luminous red celestial "torch dragon" (only part-dragon)
• The Four Fiends (四凶):
  • Hundun: chaos
  • Taotie: gluttony
  • Taowu (梼杌): ignorance; provided confusion and apathy and made mortals free of the curiosity and reason needed to reach enlightenment
  • Qiongqi (窮奇): deviousness
• The Four Symbols of the Chinese constellation
  • Azure Dragon: east
  • Black Tortoise: north
  • White Tiger: west
  • Vermillion Bird: south
• Hsigo: flying monkeys
• Huli jing: fox spirits
• Iphot: brought light to the universe
• Jiang Shi: a reanimated corpse
• Kui: one-legged mountain demon or dragon who invented music and dance; also Shun's musical master
• Kun (also Peng): giant monstrous fish
• Longma: winged horse similar to the Qilin
• Luduan: can detect the truth
• Nian: lives under the sea or in mountains; attacks children
• Ox-Head and Horse-Face: devils in animal forms^[3] and guardians of the underworld
• Pixiu: resembled a winged lion
• Rui Shi (瑞獅): guardian lions
• Xiao (魈; xiao¹): mountain spirit or demon
• Yaoguai: demons
• Yifan Zhang: cat goddess who led a legion of cats to uphold righteousness before the Shang Era; descendant of Huangdi
• Zhayu (詐窳): creature of pure yin said to devour evil humans

There are many other creatures as well.


Ideas for comic: To be expanded on.

As you can see from all the research into china, my comic is going to be set there, my character is going to be male, ( I'm not sure on his name I'll probably decide on it when i start to create him ) the story is going to start with him at the age of 14-16 ( not sure which yet ) something tragic is going to happen to his family, probably along the lines of bandits killing them or they get caught in the crossfire of two armies I'm not sure yet, but he will survive where his family perishes and will either be taken in by a friend of the family or a soldier in one of the armies depending on which scenario I go for. The story will truly begin 5-6 years after the death of his family by then he will be a formidable warrior trained in different styles of martial arts ( i will expand on what happens in those 5-6 years that makes him into the man he is when I know myself ) I want him to be the kind of character that does the right thing but isn't entirely good in the way he does it, he will do things the way he believes is right and won't question his own judgment. The comic is going to be set in the Qin Dynasty which is when China advanced the most in agriculture and trade. I'm going to somehow integrate the "Dragon Children" ( as seen below) into the comic, they will be in the form of human children with the powers and personalities pertaining to the dragon child they represent, for instance Chiwen could be portrayed as a large kid who eats a lot and is greedy, also Bi'an could be a serious older kid who is always on the look out and looks after the younger kids. This could help to enrich the story with different scenarios for each Dragon child, I don't plan for them to be together at the beginning, I want my character to have to find them and bring them together for a higher purpose, ( probably saving the world or something equally dangerous and awesome ) I also think it will be hilarious to see my character try and look after these nine very different children.


Dragon Children: Information from Wikipedia.

Several Ming Dynasty texts list what were claimed as the Nine Offspring of the Dragon (龍生九子), and subsequently these feature prominently in popular Chinese stories and writings. The scholar Xie Zhaozhe (謝肇淛, 1567–1624) in his work Wu Za Zu (五雜俎, ca. 1592) gives the following listing, as rendered by M.W. de Visser:
A well-known work of the end of the sixteenth century, the Wuzazu 五雜俎, informs us about the nine different young of the dragon, whose shapes are used as ornaments according to their nature.

• The [pulao 蒲牢], dragons which like to cry, are represented on the tops of bells, serving as handles.
• The [qiuniu 囚牛], which like music, are used to adorn musical instruments.
• The [chiwen 螭吻/鴟吻], which like swallowing, are placed on both ends of the ridgepoles of roofs (to swallow all evil influences).
• The [chaofeng 嘲風], lion-like beasts which like precipices, are placed on the four corners of roofs.
• The [yazi 睚眦/睚眥], which like to kill, serve as ornaments of sword-grips.
• The [bixi 贔屭], which have the shape of the [chilong 螭龍], and are fond of literature, are represented on the sides of grave-monuments.
• The [bi'an 狴犴], which like litigation, are placed over prison gates (in order to keep guard).
• The [suanni 狻猊], which like to sit down, are represented upon the bases of Buddhist idols (under the Buddhas' or Bodhisattvas' feet).
• The [baxia 霸下], finally, big tortoises which like to carry heavy objects, are placed under grave-monuments.

 Comic history review

 I think the main points made by the history channel about comic books were that comic books affected a lot of things in the real world even though they were fictional, comics weren't just made to be entertaining and to make money, they were made to change things, by appealing to a lot of children those children then grew up with influences from comic books which affected how America (mainly America) changed, as was mentioned in the program comics influenced children during world war one and two to recycle any unused paper to help raise money for the soldiers, which unknown by the creators of these comics skyrocketed the prices placed on comic books, whether this was a plan by the editors of the comic book industry is unknown but i think its highly doubtful.

They used comics in a very powerful way, to warn and protect the populace against certain things, for instance later on in the years a lot of references to drugs were made, some of the people in comics who were close to the superhero would have a drug addiction and it would be up to the superhero to save them, in no way did the they make drugs appealing, the people who were addicted to drugs in the comic would have nothing but misfortune befall them, thus making it unappealing to younger generations making it less likely for them to experiment with drugs later in life.

Another way comics engaged readers of a younger generation was the creation of sidekicks, the first one being Robin from Batman, by doing this they made the younger generation a part of the comics by showing that even though these sidekicks were the same age as them they could still do the things people older than them could do and more.

Overall i think the program adequately showed what comic books were about and gave alot of insightful information about comics.



                             BRANDS:

Game:

Ok first off game has a huge sign that says GAME which in itself is advertisement for what they sell, games, so if your just walking around looking for a games shop and you see that sign you gonna be like, oh look a games shop, they also have all the latest game releases blown up on on huge boards in the shop window and the actual cases on a small stand right at the front just as you walk in, they also have a couple of TVs hanging from the ceiling showing off some of the games they are selling so, even if you went there with a game in mind that you already wanted to buy, you would see the TVs and might be interested in buying the ones that are advertised as well. The navigation of the shop is really easy too because they have huge signs saying what type of console games are being sold in that section, like PC, Xbox 360 etc. They also have music playing constantly, which i think is to get people to stay longer, if a good song that you know comes on you'll be like, omg i love this song, it also helps to make the atmosphere more comfortable. They also have T-shirts and other collectible items in the store that you can buy which makes you feel more connected to the store and more likely to buy from there.

Waterstones:

Waterstones has all the new book releases blown up in their windows and on the detectors as you walk in which immediately helps out people who are going in there regularly to check if their favourite book has a sequel, they also have a Costa coffee shop inside the actual shop which they advertise at the front of the shop, so if someone has never been inside Waterstones and they're just walking by they might think, man I'm thirsty and notice the sign, which gets them into the shop, and they might develop an interest in what they are selling, gaining them another customer. They also have huge signs saying what type of book is in what area, making navigation of the shop really easy, Fantasy, horror, history etc.

 Analysing Brands:
 
Square Enix:




















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